


A Vast World

by yenso



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Conversations, Gen, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Planning Adventures, Post-Canon, Sentimental
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 15:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15910947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yenso/pseuds/yenso
Summary: "It is a vast world, after all." Aisha smiles and takes her bow, met with applause from wall to wall of the auditorium.A vast world, she says.The words curse themselves into his days. Chung wonders what he wants to do in such a vast world after the demon war has ended. The offer of navy admiral rests in his hands, yet the fantasy of adventure still beckons him forth while he remains eighteen.And the thoughts of red capes remain permanent throughout his time spent with close ones as if waiting for an answer.





	A Vast World

**Author's Note:**

> guess whos back back back, back again  
> because apparently oceans wasnt enough. im also keeping this brief because its really late but i really wanted to get this out!!! 
> 
> This is also my first time actually properly writing a full-fledged KE/CC, so its a bit of a character study too to familiarize myself with how i perceive their personalities.

Chung remembers it again.

He remembers while they walk through a red and blue parade, flags raised everywhere, right in tow with Elsword. His leader has his arm raised up, red hair glorious against the sun and cape soaring in the winds, fist clenched in victory with a large smile on his face. The look alone was encouraging, confirmation enough to the people, and the cheers were so loud Chung could barely even hear Elsword himself, who was already loud enough by himself. The rest of the El Search Party assembles behind him, all smiling and waving to the crowds of citizens, accepting handshakes from the El priestesses, El Masters, and town chiefs that have gathered at the fronts of Hamel, and even on the occasion kissing the foreheads of babies. _Babies,_  that is a rite that normally only Hamel's lord was given the honor to do!

"Prince!" A shriek stands out from the rest.

Chung turns. When was the last time he heard his real name?

A woman stands at the front of the crowds, a little baby wrapped in her arms so snugly and warmly and peppered by the confetti fired from cannons reaching as far as the castle.

His cheeks warm, but automatically, he walks forward, arms outstretched when he closes the gap, and with so much trust and gratefulness in her single look, the woman places the child into his arms. Her eyes are hopeful. She's saying things about how grateful she is for his service, practically ignorant of how he protected Elrios with so-called unfaltering bravery, of the doubts that had gone through his head in Elrianode and the scares and horrors of the demon realm. But the baby that peers up at him holds eyes wide and clear blue like the ocean, curious and wee fingers trying to reach up to claw at the tints in his hair.

Chung laughs, a small smile breaking out, before leaning in to gently brush his lips against the child's forehead.

The woman is in tears and yelling her thanks by the time he jogs back to join Elsword's side. The leader still waves, his hand practiced in the motions but unrefined, yet genuine and heartfelt nonetheless. Beside them, Aisha whiffs out a rain of tiny, sparkling ice on a group of squealing children, and he can't quite recall the last time she's had such a wonderful smile on her face. Not far behind them, Lu and Ciel— El, he doesn't know how the duo managed it, but the royal demon lady seems to take thrill in tossing out prettily wrapped Phoru cookies to the crowds and laughing her high, pridefully sweet laugh.

Chung recognizes Emirate from Sander, gives a quick hello and a polite chuckle, and Emirate comments on his ponytail. Calls it something worthy of lordship. He is a guardian, not the Hamel lord's son, he reminds the chief, and so Chung continues on, pretending not to notice Elsword's side-eyed glance towards him.

He side-eyes him back with a proud smile. Elsword looks back to the front, a calmer smile on his own face then looks forward just the way he did during the fight to protect beloved Elrios and keeps walking the route of the victory march.

It feels like a faint memory— a memory coated in mushed color and weak detail, the only blotch of color standing out is the red of blood and the red of the leader's flame in spirit. The recollections of Elsword as a brash person too young for the throes of war with him easily provoked at the mere mention of his sister in disaster. The pictures Rena showed him of the earliest days in Ruben— an experimental photograph with the Nasod Camera when it was still a prototype, are equally muddled, shown only when Chung had the gall to ask Rena one quiet night at the Lanox inn. He had looked like a wee kid then; similar to Chung himself when he first entered the fight against demons. Rena had even told him about the hot-headed nature of his, how just a few insulting words was enough to incite a demand for a duel, and the countless times she had to break up fights.

The more cohesive memory is of the end where she stands up from her seat, reaching over to ruffle his already-existing bedhead tousled from turning in sleep.

_"I'm glad you decided to stay with us."_

Looking at the person in front of him makes it incredibly, shockingly hard to believe that it is the same person as those prototype photographs. Taller, stronger, all the soft curves sharpened and grown from the weight of time, it was sure to say Elria had definitely made her work on Elsword.

_"Elsword is such a young age to be the leader against a terrible war."_

Chung finds himself looking behind him, searching for sprightly yellow-green. And he does— not too far behind, walking in stride next to Raven and Elesis. She seems to notice, elven senses sharp as ever, as the look she gives him is all the same as that night. Just as sweet, just as kind, and just as gentle.

_"Experience varies, you know? Leader or not, Elsword is still a teenager."_

And his waking time in Elrios was the shortest out of all of them, yet he was placed with the heaviest burden. He needed someone to let down his leader aura and be a normal person with normal worries within the brief moments they have to spare. The words summarize themselves before Chung, the exactness foggy in his head. What sagely words at that moment, he thinks. The curve of her lip tilts just slightly. She was already smiling before, but the look she gives somehow differs with the motion. There is a sparkle in her eye that can only be read as but one emotion, her gaze towards him.

Subconsciously, Chung glances at Elsword. His eyes stand curiously now, his returning gaze more than just a side-glance, unblinking even in the obscuring mass of confetti on the occasion. Still, the knight does not stray from their town march route. Chung turns his head back to Rena. He remembers the way she brushed his shoulder as she walked past him, leaving him at the table while she headed up the stairs with parting words at the tip of the smallest bit of warm, familial contact.

_"I think no one can do that better than you, Chung."_

Yes, he hopes he is the right person for the job. He truly does. Now he looks ahead, shakes his head at Elsword with a wave of his hand, and catches up to pace with the leader. Elsword opens his mouth to speak, a question most definitely on his lips, but gets interrupted by the loud announcement of his arrival by Rod Ross and soon enough, they are drowned in an orchestra of cheering roars.

 

* * *

  
The week feels like a blur. A mix between rest and constantly heading out to greet and check on townsfolk and celebrations that feel eternal. Events merge together from the victory march to award ceremonies to private family coronations, the final leaving him contemplative and a strange taste on his lips, as he peers down from the indoor balcony towards the stage. Daisy hands a mic to Aisha, who steps up to the podium as if she were born for this. Or that is what Aisha would say, had Chung not caught the very faintest of trembling in her legs as she addressed everyone with politeness, reserved only for trying to get on a good side.

"Hey, Chung."

Chung continues to observe down from the indoor balcony of the wide, wide auditorium decked in velvet and royal blue curtains, does little to look away, and only pulls his gaze when another set of arms are leaning on the railing with him. The recognition is instant.

"Hey, Els."

The golden lights of the chandeliers above twinkle in red eyes. Chung is a little baffled, he will admit, when the stage is still glowing and Aisha takes the podium with a grandiose speech prepared of her tales, complete with little slips papyrus notes. She looks refreshed. Maybe a little too serious, but she _was_  giving a speech representing the whole team.

"You're not staying down there?" He inquires.

Elsword shakes his head. Chung notices the bareness of his hands, ungloved and all of the armor pieces with the protective decor gone. He stands there, next to Chung, leaning on the balcony rail instead of sitting in the seats in just his typical shirt and pants. The only armor he had on in the first place, he'd say, were those iron boots and a medal around his neck.

He looked normal.

Elsword had always been a leader first, teenager second. Considerably, maybe in wartime, or perhaps even in other places, that was considered a strong aspect of a character. From the moment he joined up with Rena and Aisha at thirteen, he became a leader first, teenager second. And it was such that had saved them all countless times, while alternatively also attributed to his botched attempt to merge with the El to help everyone. Botched solely because of the team's efforts to mess it up in the first place. However, that's made normalcy, the appearance of an average joe, a little too strange to them now. Too new of a look, and while it feels fresh to look at, Chung knows from the woe eyes of the common folk that it shouldn't be.

Yet, due to all of its unusualness, he smiles softly at the sight. A usual casual appearance for Elsword, yes, though reserved for when he retired to his quarters for the night. But mood mattered. Atmosphere mattered, even if Elsword was an idealistic person in general terms. The time wasn't right, for even with his encouraging attitude he still looked all the responsibility he willingly burdened. It was still visibly taxing, the way he forced square and solid posture, the barest hint of bags under his eyes some days that would be gone the next two or three...

Or maybe it was his face instead? Loosened from the lack of worry, refreshed from more sleep, mellowed out, even. Flutters make their home in the pit of Chung's stomach at it.

"It's not really my thing anymore," Elsword says, quiet as Aisha begins her massive soliloquy to the filled room, yet bare hands playing with the gold medallion granted to him. Before Chung can comment, he adds, "the whole ceremony stuff. I just want free food now."

Aisha's voice is powerful. It holds surges of tone and pathos, readily equipped and changing the way she speaks by the paragraph. Her voice rises like the prelude to the chorus, drops low and soft when she speaks even the slightest on the terror they experienced. Figures that a genius magician like her would be well-practiced in speech-giving. Chung nudges Elsword in the side with his elbow, responds daintily, "Everyone wants the Knight of Elrios in the flesh, after all."

The pressure against his elbow is rougher than the one he gave to the knight's side. Chung hides a laugh with his fist when he realizes the way his friend's ears merged with the crimson of his hair.

"I've always wanted to become an amazing knight like Sis and my dad," he presses the medallion to his lips as he speaks, Chung's tingling at the sight, "but I didn't think I would end up in this kind of position."

Chung scoots a wee bit closer to Elsword, just enough for the tips of their elbows on the rails to touch, tilts his head toward broad shoulder just enough to be heard.

"Like kissing babies?"

The touch is gone. Elsword opts to break it in favor of covering his face for half a second before sliding them back down onto the railing.

"Like kissing babies." He repeats, reluctant, pauses briefly before continuing, "I was stopped on my way here because this lady wanted help carrying something up. I helped her and she thanked me for..." Elsword makes air quotes by each side of his head, "'allowing her to gaze upon Knight of Elrios hard at work.'"

The thought of a typical Hamelian woman ogling Elsword and the curvatures of his toned frame makes Chung laugh. It's still shocking to him how people are actually eyeing Elsword for his looks and frame in this present time; Aisha had always said he had a dumb face.

"It's because you look good now," The words come out playfully yet Chung means it a little more than he should allow himself, but can't really bring himself to stop. The Savior of Elrios truly had changed a lot, after all, so he continues, "you have a pretty face."

The way Elsword covers his ears at the comment and bows his head down is endearing. It is like he isn't used to showers of praise for saving the entire supercontinent. Wasn't Elsword supposed to be the type to lavishly and happily accept them all before? Maturity hit him hard.

"Do I really?" He asks, a little hopeful.

An endearing laugh emits from the guardian before he reaches up, taking the knight's hand in his own and bringing it down from his ear. When Elsword turns away from Aisha's grandiose speech, her bright eyes reflecting the sepia glow of the room, to look at him, Chung gives an affirmative nod.

"You do."

As soon as he lets go Elsword rubs at the back of his neck, bashful. The grandness of it all is still weird to him, clearly; it is weird to Chung sometimes, too. The two of them, constantly chasing after the backs of a higher figure, only to end up beyond the reach and hailed heroes? It almost feels like some strange, surreal dream. A dream so bright, he might wake up one morning to find there were still bandages on his pale wrists, muscles sore from tireless hours of training, and the back of his father still would loom so tall it cast shadows over his entire being.

Yet he only sees light.

They quietly listen to Aisha's speech afterward. Her praise of the people for having courage and faith in the El Search Party, how that alone was the very definition of what made their combined talents one worthy of true genius quality. How her hands seamlessly dance through the air in passionate, dedicated gestures, those papyrus notes mere props to her show with voice rising in crescendo the more her joy and pride builds. That the world was a wide, wide sandbox filled with infinite amounts of precious knowledge, though not just in the academics. Knowledge of bonds, of trust, of love and friendship and the power of believing in not just oneself, but in others as well. The climax strikes and Chung can tell by the way tears rise in her eyes and how her voice cracks at the overwhelming thoughts of their time together, the success and the rush of it all, and how the people's support has driven their little ragtag group so far. Her eyes dart around as she speaks from one corner of the room to the other, and she catches Chung's eye. Chung smiles supportively at her, gives her an encouraging thumbs up. Elsword does the same next to him. The way her voice blooms with the bright flares of the purest aether the minute she looks back at the audience tells him she had received their encouragements well.

If he recalls correctly from reading the drafts of Aisha's speech, she should be nearing her end. Smoothly, she moved to talk about the present. How even so, there was still more work to be done, and the fight was the easy part about it. How the El Search Party has finished fighting, but now needed the help of the general populace more than ever to restore the afflicted to a state stronger than before.

She is not wrong. The legislation, the repair fees, the rebuilding of the capital and many other town landmarks like Velder's Hope Bridge, were all things that were simply out of the team's hands. Chung cringes at the mere thought of it— he had some rough experience in these strange political fields, but all from trial and error negotiating with demons, haughty village chiefs, and interrogations galore. His father had always been the one who handled those problems should it reach the Seiker houses. But experience has been an excellent teacher, indeed, enough for him to keep up with the murmurs of future campaigns. Enough to understand it comprehensively, and right now, he could learn even more if he took up with his father. Still...

"Chung," Elsword says, "What do you plan to do now?"

His throat feels lodged. Chung doesn't know what to say to that.

Awkwardly, the guardian combs through his hair and trains his eyes on Aisha, "Well, my father offered me a spot by his side to be part of the navy officers."

"Really?"

Chung dares himself to take a look and accepts the challenge, only to see Elsword's eyes focused downwards at the stage as well. He refuses to meet his gaze, so Chung simply readjusts his focus again.

"Yeah." He murmurs.

Elsword lowers his head to rest his chin on the top of the rail, muffling his voice with an unusually soft "Oh."

Chung bites his lip, brows contorted and eyes scrunched. The hammering in his heart begins so sudden akin to blasted full volume entry into a new musical spell, yet there are no demons around. None, aside from Lu and Ciel down onstage below behind Aisha, but those were exceptions. They had plans to be ambassadors, the link between demon and human, after all. Of course, he recognizes his anxiousness in the question, and tells himself hurriedly Elsword isn't going to get upset no matter the choice Chung made on it. Elsword simply wasn't that kind of person.

The underlying question was if it was what Chung wanted.

"Does it bother you?" Chung inquires carefully, gently, then lowers his eyes.

"...But these broken bridges— they can mend. If we all put our heads and hearts together..." Aisha says into the Nasod microphone, faces the Nasod cameras and acknowledges the audience.

"No, no!" The denial is fast and surprising. Elsword suddenly stands straight, leans off the railing, takes a few steps back and frowns at Chung, who can only bring himself to blink at the shift in attitude, "It doesn't! In fact, I got an offer to be a commander in the Velder Knighthood."

Chung's gut churns. He had forgotten within the waves of all of the time they had spent together, huh? Velder was the homage of Elesis and Elsword's father's knighthood, and he most certainly couldn't stick around forever. That he and Elsword were from two entirely different continents, and the day they went back to their hometowns meant they would be living each day to the other's night.

Somehow, Chung finds the idea tugging at him. Elsword is from Rurensia, a continent he has only heard tales and seen pictures of. A continent that has piqued his curiosity for years by now. Their only means of contact being letters that would take weeks to arrive and diving through newspapers hoping to find what the other was up to. How was he going to be there for him? Or make sure he could protect his best friend? Elsword could protect himself, right?

Purple cuts in. "I know we, the El Search Party, are asking for the joined powers of an entire supercontinent into one, but I believe that can be something wonderful in itself." Aisha's voice breaks into his ears.

His stomach feels ill. It twists his gut, yanks at strings attached to his lungs, so the guardian can only bring himself to make as bright a smile as he could. They had finished their journey— things like hanging on had less purpose now, especially when there were more pressing issues in Elrios emerging already. All of their goals had completed; they were free to walk their own separate paths.

"Chung?"

Damn. He was thinking too much.

"We can learn from each other, take notes of the cultures and governments of each other, and even create a prosperous trade from Ruben to Lanox!"

Chung smiles at Elsword.

"Yeah?"

It stings when the next words out of the knight's mouth is a clear reflection of his own.

"Does it bother you?"

Yet he dances to the tune of what is right and selfless. After all, just because they were whole continents apart doesn't mean they would not be best friends anymore. A position as the highest level knight was something thousands could only dream of, and even better yet, that was practically Elesis levels of power!

"No, of course not." He chuckles, "I was just thinking about you as a Velder knight."

The curtain begins to fall. Aisha clasps her hands in front of her and beams brightly.

"Are you going to take the job?"

Elsword doesn't say anything, only scratches his head. "I haven't decided yet," he confesses, crosses his arms and looks back over the balcony.

Chung nods wordlessly, tight-lipped smile, and makes sure the last thing Elsword sees before he gazes upon Aisha one more time is his smile. His eyes grow downcast, letting his hair cover his darkened eyes when he looks down.

"It _is_ a vast world, after all." Aisha smiles and takes her bow, met with applause from wall to wall of the auditorium.

Chung makes sure to clap along.

 

* * *

  
The next days are spent observing. He watches the way the El Search Party goes about their days with mixed enthusiasm and sentimentality. Maybe Aisha's speech the other day had just that great of an impact on him, phrases in his head as he slowly picks off one by one, putting together the places the people will go.

Lu and Ciel already seem busy. Always up and about, making negotiations for peace, trying to win favor with the public by constantly helping out the citizens... just watching the sweat they break together for a peaceful coexistence is akin to miracle magic to Chung. He finds himself awed at the sway of the wings behind Lu as she goes out of her majestic way to touch the ground and pay a human's behalf of goods because he 'looked like he was in a pinch'.

"So obviously, I went and helped him!" Lu scoffs like it is fact that one must help others in need, handing Chung a phoru cookie from Ciel as she spoke, "Fixing humans' eyes on us demons starts with little steps. Or so Ciel says." She grumbles that last bit, one eye closed and glaring at her fellow partner. He shrugs, smiles, and pours her some tea.

"You're doing well, Lu. The dream you envisioned shall definitely come true at this rate."

"Oho?" She raises an eyebrow, gestures for him to pour Chung a glass as well, "If that is true, then..." she closes her eyes with a smug, yet somehow almost serene smile all the same. Her expression is thoughtful, arms crossed with one leg over the other at the tea table she has generously had set up for them as if making the final decision on new legislation. Finally, she speaks her final consensus of, "I suppose I'll allow this pace."

Chung chimes in, "If you go at it too aggressively, it can harm you instead. Be smart."

Lu huffs as if to concern over her were a high-degree insult, "Of course I will be! With Ciel by my side, even a hurdle like this will disappear one day!" She elegantly throws her hand outward, akin to a manner in showing the vastness of the world in front of them and the bustling market streets full of construction in window-view.

"This is nothing compared to my time in the demon realm!"

Ciel bobs his head to agree, complete with a chuckle, carefully lowering down a tea platter with a piping hot cup. Chung thanks him for the tea and gives it a try, only to find it exquisitely pleasing and a mind aching to know the recipe. He looks down at the cup, smiling at his own reflection. He was calm, but hearing the way Lu talked...

So that was what they had decided to do from here on, then. What was he going to do? That offer still stands, lucrative and appealing, and it was a position where he could remain close to his father to protect him. Protect him with his newly acquired skills. He was definitely stronger now, right? His power alone could combat a good amount of waves of demons now. The journey taken with Elsword's party took him through quite the amount in Pluone, and then an entirely new world altogether, and then the _demon realm,_ and yet he hesitates. Was that enough for him?

_"It is a vast world, after all."_

A vast world...

Elsword hails from Rurensia. Chung has never been to Rurensia before; he met Elsword smack in Hamel, after all.

"You look hesitant." Lu shoots at him.

Chung's smile freezes in place and realizes the demonic duo are both impassively staring at him. The ideas of what he could do must truly be clouding up his mind. He shifts it awkward, scratches the back of his neck in a manner all too similar to their leader, and laughs embarrassedly.

"Sorry, I was just thinking." Didn't he do this that night when Elsword was talking to him? Around when they started talking about the position offers because of the thought of parting with Elsword kind of stinging.

Lu's eyebrow somehow makes an eloquent curve up, her face unamused. How she could make anything seem elegant then make anything seem crude for a queen is beyond him. She claps once and Ciel takes out the phoru cookies, setting them down in the center of the table, and loyally stands next to her afterward.

"Of what, exactly?"

Chung, years ago, would never think he would ever see the day where he talks about his worries to demons. In fact, he may have thought himself insane. Yet here he is, talking to Lu, and incredibly surprised at himself when he makes the decision, then takes a moment to gather his words. He starts with the personal offer given by his own father, the man he looked up to for a great portion of childhood, a spot to stay by his side in the navy forces. How it is essentially working with the man he admired most in his childhood. Elsword's chance to be a Velder Knight of the highest caliber with his sister, how he has strange hesitance over this, and how the question has been rising in his head ever so steadily by the day. That in exchange, it also means no longer being able to see the one he, the present Chung, no longer the one who had only seen halcyon days, admires most.

Lu is a surprisingly attentive listener when she needs to be. Maybe he should have noticed it sooner back in the demon realm, how she was privy to every detail in each and every war council, in the battles she fought against her own kind for the sake of her ideas of coexistence and peace. She nods, eyes never leaving him for a minute, and makes the occasional comment to reassure him she was still listening. Her tail flickers every here and there.

"Something like that troubles you?" She asks as soon as he finishes. Chung doesn't know whether he should take offense to her disbelief or be honored a haughty demon of her caliber has high expectations of him.

Lu hardly gives him a moment to reply, for she takes a sip of her tea and tosses her hair back. It draws his attention to her, who simply places her tea back on the platter with a weirdly disappointed know-it-all look.

"Think about it like this," she starts, then points an accusing little demon finger at him. Her tail snaps like Venus flytraps, poised over and poised in the same direction as her finger: him. "What is it do you want to do?"

He's faced questioning his resolve too many times to hesitate on his answer in such a simple question.

"I want to protect everyone, of course."

Ciel nudges him with the tip of a gun-blade, nods towards his unfinished tea. Chung apologizes quietly and picks his tea back up with trained practice from long ago.

Lu nods approvingly. Whether her approval is at his tea posture or his answer, Chung wants to believe it's both, but he digresses.

"Is Hamel truly 'everyone'?" She asks.

Chung is silent. She should know the answer, he himself reluctant to say it. No, it definitely wasn't, but he couldn't just dispatch copies of him in every single town in the world.

"You're too attached," Lu says, raises her palm up and summons an ethereal blue chain into her hand. The look she bores continues to simply feed into Chung's head the utter nonsense she sees in him, yet holds the barest flame of kindness and he has faith in that slightest gleam of concern. Eyes looking up yet down at him, the demon lord follows up by grabbing the chain into her fist, "to this place. To Hamel."

"Too attached?" Chung questions her words, frowning, "This is my hometown. The Seikers have a long line of protecting—"

"—which stops you from going to greater lands," she drawls, plays with the iron in her wicked fingers with a slowly curving upwards lip, "How will you protect Elrios when you're considering chaining yourself up in Hamel?"

A flare of anger rises up indignant in Chung's chest, and he sets down the tea in his hand a little too strongly to remark, "You're saying my home is holding me back?"

"Think about it logically!" Lu responds while leaning back in her chair, legs crossed over the other, "I'll recognize the strength of the bond you share with Helputt, but do you only hesitate because it is your father offering you this for your glory of Hamel?"

"Of... of course not-"

"Lu, if I may." Ciel interrupts. Chung and Lu both look at the man before the lady gives her nod of approval with a proudly smug smile.

Ciel faces the guardian, tilts his head to the side just by a faint margin.

"Consider if you received the offer from someone other than Sir Helputt, and you were to be stationed in another city," he explains, refills Lu's tea as he does so, "what would you say then?"

"Well-"

"You're more than someone who just sits around on a pretty little ship," Lu butts in with that confident smirk of hers, "you are a _hero,_ and you're still just a tiny young man."

"She means you can do more to protect others than staying in the navy," Ciel stacks his words on top of Lu's like he knows how to back up anything she says. Knowing him and his tales of handling Lu when their contract was just freshly born, he probably does out of sheer practice and experience. "I understand making sure your family and home is safe. However, with Elrios's current state it's not any harm to do some casual traveling now, either."

Chung clenches his fists. If only he could deny any part of this. The thought of being able to explore Rurensia burns in his mind at their words. Being able to walk on his own two feet into Velder grounds for the first time, see the capital, learn about the merchant's guild through Elder...

Finding Elsword's hometown. See if it's as lush green as the knight had described, meet the ones who took care of Elsword when he had no family but only a house. There was an entire continent he had never stepped foot on, right? And maybe they had underlying issues that Elsword couldn't figure out, seeing he never liked getting involved in politics in the first place.

Lu's laughter sounds like pride yet mockery too in his ears, "You need to break the shackles that tie you down here," she advises, her grip on the chain tightening. The links tremble under her power, three seconds pass, and then they snap into fragments that drift into the wind from her fingers, "staying here is asking for your skills to dull." She opens up her palm and lets free the remaining bits of chain.

"My skills to dull," Chung repeats sullenly, yet feeling just the smallest bit defeated.

Lu leans forward, propping her elbows up and placing her chin in her hands with a gleam in her eye. "Precisely," she affirms, confident that it was pure fact and no fiction, "don't you think other dangers lurk hidden from the public eye?"

What was that supposed to imply? Did Lu know things and purposefully keep them from the team? Chung feels anger ignite, but calms himself and remembers the kindness Lu and Ciel have shown tirelessly, and how Lu especially has allowed the multiple insulting remarks Ain had made of her blood in the past to slide. "What are you trying to say?" He asks instead, calmly.

The cockiness in her eyes faded. She takes on a more inquisitive demeanor, serious with acute eyes that gleamed in the peeking light behind the window, "Ciel and I will be busy trying to get the humans, elves, and Nasods to agree to coexist with the demons—"

"Speaking of that, don't forget you have your diplomatic talk with Eve today," Ciel reminds with alarm clock timeliness.

Apparently, Lu was already running her own schedules. Paling more than she already is, Lu looks aghast and perks up as soon as her butler utters such words. "Oh, _Sult!_ Ciel, when are we supposed to meet?" She hastily presses the question, eyes wide and jaw dropped.

"One hour."

Chung can already tell from those words, and the apologetic look Lu flashes him tells the rest of the story.

"Don't worry about it," Chung offers with a smile. Lu exhales and fixes her hair, Ciel taking out a mirror and handing it to the queen.

She stands up, checking herself in the mirror while talking, "Eve may be a friend, but she is still the Nasod Queen. I have to take this seriously, so I must leave and begin preparations," Lu clarifies, shifting a loose strand of hair back into place. Saying nothing for a quick few beats, an inhale follows, "The El Search Party now fights battles from multiple stages," with finality, then firmly ends with a sigh, picking up and finishing the last of her tea, tilting her head at Ciel. Ciel moves to start cleaning up the table. "So I still believe you're better off leaving Hamel. Some of us want to reach our own things, where the quicker approach is not to fight, or even just rest. Your goal, on the other hand, is versatile."

Chung thinks with scrunched brows. Was this Lu _attempting_ to give advice instead of _knowing_ she was giving advice? An action well-hearted and appreciated, he warily accepts.

"You're young. You have time to enjoy yourself. You should leave to explore," her voice interrupts his mental train.

Lu stands up and clasps her hands together. Chung stands up as well, pushing in his chair and thanking Ciel with a murmur when the half-demon draws close to take up the tea plates on Chung's side. It is acknowledged with a brief, a small smile flashed towards the guardian for but a second.

"...It's a vast world, after all." Lu finishes, smiles cheekily. Her smile is a mirror reflection of her impish grin back when they first met in Lanox, her words a mirror reflection of that stage Aisha stood on, coated in the gold light, as she finishes with parting words in her speech.

Chung manages to laugh a little, eyes nervous.

 

* * *

 

He finds himself with Helputt the following day.

Helputt is a man of large physique, definitely a large amount of bulk more than Chung himself, but some would say he needs all of that muscle to be able to hold how large of a heart he held underneath the armor. Brave and proud, he was even able to lead the defense against demons successfully until he was unfairly threatened with the infection of his son with Dark El if he did not falter. In the end, choosing the protection of his son in hopes others can stop him, he had vanished with the demons. And now, years later, someone has. Chung has loved and still does love his father dearly, especially now that he is back home in Hamel, however...

"Have you thought about my offer?"

"Yes, a lot, actually."

A week has passed since the offer was first made. Helputt takes a seat next to Chung. Warmed by his father's presence, Chung pushes aside the plates of his armor and the sanitized rag with it on the desk, turning in his chair to properly face the man. Hand waltzing up from his scalp, he pulls the band that held his ponytail together off and lets cream locks tumble unbidden, cascading about him in waves.

"And have you come to an answer?" He prods subtly.

Chung avoids his gaze when he shakes his head no. It feels shameful to tell him he is indecisive. It's not long after he does so when he feels the all-too-familiar, all-too-kind touch on his head, mixed with the scraping of wood. His father's leg comes into his view a moment later.

"A difficult choice for you, I take it?"

Chung cracks a wry smile, bows his head further in shame. It almost seemed like an easy answer with Father right next to him, yet still, he hesitates. Maybe he would have decided then and there, but Lu's words ring in his head as soon as he tries to think of the life he could be living watching over Hamel with the White Colossus, who was his inspiration, motivation...

_"I still believe you're better off leaving."_

Better off leaving here, was that right, Lu? But it has been too long since he last checked in to Hamel. In fact, these recent days have been the first in years! But he has never truly gone on an adventure desired, either. Was Lu right? Was this peaceful period of time truly the best place to go on an adventurous journey?

"Yes," Chung replies, leaning back in his chair in a slouch. He tilts his head up toward the ceiling, meets Helputt's palm instead, and exhales a long, drawn-out sigh, "I don't know what to say."

Helputt chuckles by his side. He leans closer to his son, amused, before reassuring him, "Do what you feel is best. Don't worry."

"That's what Lu told me," Chung mutters. He sees the ceiling right after.

Hand retracted, Helputt scoots back in his chair with surprised eyes and raised brows. "Lu? That little demon with you in the march?"

Chung slouches further, head now laying on the backrest of his chair and hands in his lap, "Yes. I asked her for advice the other day and she basically told me to 'do what you want but go have fun'."

"Simple and obvious, but sound advice," Helputt confirms. He kicks Chung's foot, "Where'd you get manners like those?"

Chung apologizes on the spot and sits back up, straight-spined and proper like he should, chastising himself all the while. He couldn't act like that with Father! Elsword must have rubbed off on him too much after all. Or could he pin it on the exhaustion he felt from countless battles against so many demons and Henir spawn as well?

"Sorry, Father."

"You get it from your team?" Yet his father jests instead.

Embarrassed and red like the cape flowing from Elsword's back, the only thing Chung can bring himself to do is bob his head in reluctant, shy confirmation. Not even vocalized agreement comes.

With that done, he waits for judgment from Helputt. Father surely must be grateful for the El Search Party's services, but how did he see them as people? Especially Elsword. Chung doesn't think his chest would be able to take it if Helputt hated Elsword of all people. After all, Elsword is the one who pulled him up from a hopeless battle and swept him-

His train of thought is interrupted by boisterous laughter.

"Never thought I'd see the day you run off with people like that!" He laughs loud and hearty, the sound alone capable of making Chung look at his father with piqued interest. "Especially with that younger Sieghart as the leader! Elsword, correct?"

Chung perks up. He liked Elsword, possibly?! Elsword meant a huge deal to him, so, "Yes, that is his name," he says, and tries not to say it too eagerly.

The laughter dies down to chuckles heaving from the stomach. "His name has come up more times than I can count in meetings. Fought at only thirteen and spearheaded the demon war through all his teens huh?"

"Yes."

The smile his father flashes him turns somber, almost contemplative.

"Just like you."

Chung doesn't reply to that, only tucks his hair behind his ear and tries to give his father a reassuring smile. It was a strange turn of atmosphere, but he could understand what his father may be going through in his head. He had no choice, after all, if he wanted Hamel to still stand at the end of the road. There are words unsaid in those eyes, asking themselves what possibly could have gone differently to have saved Chung from such a fate. Chung tries to tell those unspoken through gaze alone that he wouldn't have it any other way. It's how he met Elsword, after all.

"I didn't do nearly as much as him, but I'm proud to call him my best friend."

_Knock, knock._

Both Seikers glance at the door. Before his father can, Chung gets up courteously and approaches, swinging open the door and being met face to face with the man of conversation.

They share a look at each other for a heartbeat of a moment before Elsword opens his mouth.

"Hey," Elsword waves, shifts his arm a little with the scroll tucked under. He completes with a friendly smile, "how are things?"

Chung looks behind him. His father waves his hand nonchalantly with an interesting smile. Elsword peers over his shoulder, then his friendliness receives the perk of awkwardness when he meets eyes with the White Colossus.

"Oh. Hello, Sir Helputt," Elsword includes in his greeting instantly, bowing his head at the same time.

"Welcome," Helputt nods back. He looks at the younger Seiker, "are you going to invite your friend in, son?"

"Oh! Um, of course!" Chung steps back away from the door, makes room for the knight to enter, then shuts the door again. Helputt reaches his hand out. Elsword looks at it for only a second before grasping it with that powerful, encouraging grip of his and a smile just so.

The two take a seat on Chung's bed, just across the man left remaining in the chair. Chung absolutely and fantastically fails not to notice the way their legs seemed to bump together as Elsword places the scroll on the side and _oh, El they are definitely brushing shoulders._ But- but! It definitely wasn't intentional, so it was okay! Chung simply tries to avoid Elsword's gaze with flushed ears and a tight-lipped smile. If he screamed he might accidentally shatter a window, after all.

"What's happening?" Elsword asks.

Chung snaps to attention immediately, back going rigid straight. Peering over at Elsword with lips parted, eyes serious, he prepares to explain the current situation and the bigger picture, the El Search Party's own state of affairs-

Nothing falls out of his lips. He blinks, snapped out of a trance almost, and realizes Elsword's light-hearted eyes and friendly smile. Serene, peaceful, typical day-to-day look. Warmly lit eyes, hands clasped together and looking around Chung's room in wonder as he listened to Helputt's faint reply over their discussion on some more mundane cases.

And it was beautiful. The look of him, freed from the ball chains of war itself, was beautiful. The way he holds his all too calm smile, attentive to Father, and chiming in here and there. Somehow Elsword remains more in tune to the topic at hand than Chung himself, who tries to comment just enough to at least appear existent in the conversation.

"And just now, we were talking about Chung's offer from the Hamelian Navy. He'd land himself a general position very, very easily," Helputt summarizes, proud.

Elsword's hands squeeze tight around each other. He bobs his head and suddenly he is reminiscent of the war leader with all the burdens in the world, silently holding onto them with shaking hands and picking up more with every step for the sake of others. Furrowing his brows, concern washes ashore in Chung's observation of the El Search Party leader.

"Yeah, I heard about that," Elsword says, knitting his fingers together and undoing them as he speaks.

One look at him is all he needs. One look and that night of Aisha's speech comes rushing back with the faint memory of Elsword's strained attitude on the inner balcony is instantaneously fresh in his head again. Chung brings out as polite a voice as he can bring and reveals to his father his worried paw-printed cerulean irises, unsure, "Father, you're making him nervous..."

"I'm not nervous," Elsword intercepts with a short laugh before Chung could voice any further. "Really."

Yet the barest tremble in his voice completely convinces Chung otherwise. The strong front Elsword had always put up prevailed even in peaceful times, and only now did Chung realize how bothersome that truly has become. Done in good conscience, always, for that is just how Elsword is, but on the contrary, the known perpetrating trait for countless burdens piled on top of him during their years fighting.

"Els..." Chung murmurs, expression cemented into worry. He knows the topic of the recent offers gets Elsword on his toes— he'd be a fool to not remember that night in the auditorium when he first mentioned it. The aversion of his eyes and carefully hidden, but existent pursed lips were reactions all too familiar to the guardian himself. Elsword is his best friend, too! He _knows_ him!

The eyes of his father loom over the two of them, penetrating layers.

"There's no reason to get anxious, son," Helputt reaches out and places a firm hand on Elsword's shoulder. Those broad shoulders, formerly carrying the weight of the world, lower and loosen up before Elsword peers at the White Colossus abashedly. A slight quirk of the lips gives him the boyish, rugged look Chung hardly saw in the recent years, twisting and churning his chest, and it only just then clicks when Elsword follows up to his father.

"Son?"

Helputt's laugh is big like his heart. He leans back in his seat, tilts the chair back with his weight and hands bracing the rests. Elsword and Helputt were most certainly not related, throwing Chung's head in for a loop with irked lips and arched brows.

"Any good friend of my son Chung's may as well be one of mine!"

Elsword laughs, true this time; Chung discovers himself smiling in time to his laughter.

"You see, my sister has been talking about the same things," Elsword replies.

“So I’ve heard. Velder wants you dearly, do they not? Your military accomplishments have spread far and wide across Elrios.”

Elsword rubs the back of his neck, abashed, and avoids the gaze of Chung’s father. Chung chuckles at the sight, placing a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder in sympathy. He wonders again if there were possibly another universe where Elsword would have soaked in all of the praise, especially considering how he supposedly was when he was still just barely a teenager, but perhaps even now, he’d still be embarrassed. His father is the White Colossus after all.

Helputt continues, even as Elsword does not provide a response, “I didn’t need to know much else after you all saved me, but… one step into Elrios and the first thing I hear is about how you’ve driven away all the demon forces from the entire supercontinent.”

"I had help."

"Of course. No war has succeeded without a team."

"And I'm glad I was a part of that," Chung finishes, smiles at Elsword. The story they shared together from teenage adolescence into certified adulthood was certainly a can of tuna in itself, but full of recollection tales of the past with true memories from Hamel onward; the day Elesis saved Elsword from certain death in Velder, gallant and bright, and their first meeting in Hamel.

Leaning back, legs stretching out to balance himself, Elsword's neck falls just inches away from the mattress. He takes a deep breath, breathes in through his nose and breathes out through the gentle parting between his lips, and folds his hands in his lap.

“We only managed to get this far as a team,” he says, crimson eyes flashing over towards the paw-printed cerulean of his friend for a moment before they point towards the ceiling. Then, he fully leans back, head finally touching down on the soft cushions with a small bounce. His hands reach up and lock together, forming a pillow behind his head as he stares, lackadaisical, at the roof. Chung takes a moment to nudge a stray strand of hair out of his leader’s face when he notices the way the knight’s face scrunches up.

“So, what are you thinking of that Velder offer?” Helputt questions.

Chung is reminded of his own offer from Hamel’s navy.

Elsword doesn't budge an inch nor a centimeter.

The silence is uncomfortable. It clogs, consumes the room, waiting for Absolute Judgement, consuming it in its entirety. The rap tap tapping of Chung's finger against the side of the leg and Helputt reshifting his position to clasp his hands together and lean forward in his seat is the only visible movement.

"I think it's awesome," Elsword starts like he is tiptoeing around broken eggshells, "I'm really honored."

Just about anyone would be. Velder was a kingdom of the same caliber and standing of Hamel— essentially the Hamel of Rurensia if anything. To be given a high position in their ranks was an envy many knights twice their age craved more than anything. Elesis was a token proof of that too, becoming a hero when she was so young.

"But I'm going to Rurensia as me," as soon as the words leave his lips Chung cannot conceal the surprise— he was going to Rurensia anyway but not going to take the offer? It was definitely like Elsword to do that, now that Chung thinks about it...

"I'm going to decline their offer."

Chung challenges himself to take a look at how Helputt must be thinking of this and takes the challenge. A side-eyed glance shows an amused twinkle in his father's eye that both relieves and appalls him. Was the rejection of military offers not unusual? Perhaps uncommon, for Chung knew many of his former classmates must have definitely agreed to become defenders with pride, yet Helputt seems pleased.

He wasn't planning on recruiting Elsword into the navy, was he-

"You've made up your mind, it seems," Helputt instead laughs and reclines back into his former relaxed position, "no point in trying to get you to join the navy, I'd say."

"No," Elsword agrees, his voice firmer and more determined as if that gave him some kind of morale boost, "I know where I'm going."

"I don't suppose you'll tell us?"

Elsword shakes his head at first, but suddenly looks over at Chung with those determined crimson eyes that stop Chung in his tracks, yet held the softness that made him want to melt into a dumb puddle and all of the embarrassing things rolled into a lunch box.

"I came here to talk to Chung about it, actually."

His tapping hand is stopped by the redhead's hand placed on top.

Helputt is getting up as soon as Elsword says those words as if there is some kind of mutual understanding that passed between them. Like there was an intangible _thing_ between them that relayed his motivations over to his father, giving a memo that sailed right over Chung's head.

"Well then," he crosses over to the bed, gives Elsword a firm slap of the shoulder, and heads for the door, "it's best I leave in this case, right?"

Elsword scratches his cheek and nods.

Chung's hand having stilled, Elsword's own plays with a strand of the cream hair that pools around the guardian in waterfall waves. He is stuck in the cycle of inquiry that was contemplating what Elsword could possibly want to speak alone about. The door that closes behind his father only seals his fate, locked in his own childhood room with the man that inspired and led the journey to realms beyond comprehension and the man that he had, probably, he thinks, taken a tumble for countless times.

The pale blue of the walls surrounding, both still remaining on the fluffy, familial mattress that Chung had not rested on in five, almost six years, he quietly waits. He plays with his own hair, even, combs his fingers through the long locks that had grown with time, expectant at this point, and eyeing every corner of the wall. Chairs vacant, desk empty, papers about, and a knight still laying down next to him on the mattress.

Chung decides to try to start instead of waiting for Elsword.

“So…” he begins, tentatively.

Elsword heaves then lurches himself upright. Chung tilts his head away to avoid getting smacked in the forehead, dodging smoothly as his friend swings back up.

“You’re going back to Rurensia?” The guardian inquires with a subdued smile, hair falling in front of his face with the lilt of his head when he readjusts his vision to view the knight in his entirety.

Elsword confirms it. “Yeah,” he says, looking right back with his usual determined look, though uncommonly tinted with wariness, “I’m going to go back to Ruben for a little bit. I want to tell everyone what happened and all of that.”

Chung thinks about Elsword and Ruben. The place where the leader was born and raised, right? Father and mother MIA, sister drafted off to war by her father’s side, he had raised himself with the help of the village people. That El Search Party recruiter’s name, he tries to remember, racks his head deeply for it, and recalls it as Lowe. How there was that nice village girl Ann who gave him a departure gift. A large, beautiful tree that held the El Shard that initially started Elsword’s entire journey and a majestic guardian five times his size.

There was no denying it, was it? Maybe Lu had a point after all, pushing so stubbornly about Chung leaving Hamel. Maybe, from the start, as soon as he opened his mouth, she read him somehow. Chung wanted to go to the Rurensia continent. He truly wanted to see Ruben for his own eyes, the place his leader had grown up, and come to know the place well and understand the people behind the knight’s upbringing. But there was more than that, as well. He actually wanted to roam the streets of Velder on his own two feet, see the floating island Eve had spoken briefly of, and the desert-like landscape down below.

“I understand that,” Chung replies amicably, reminds himself Elsword, too, had friends and perhaps people he even considered family all the way back in Ruben, and that Elsword himself had not been home since thirteen. “Just take care of yourself. You don’t do that very well, haha.” A soft chuckle floats through the air and pops.

Elsword’s reaction is strange to his words. Chung had thought he was supportive, understanding, yet the knight looks like he had just taken a pretty bad punch in the gut, hand in midair with one finger raised. Was that a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face? 

Clearly, there was some misunderstanding rolling fast and furious in Elsword's head. “Take— huh? Di-…did you decide you were going with the navy?” Elsword asks hurriedly, scooting closer to Chung with wide eyes frozen in place.

Okay, that was really weird of Elsword. Chung moves his head back, equally surprised and maybe a little heated in the face, but shakes his head quickly once, twice, even three times. Elsword sounds like he is about to ramble.

"I'll cheer you on, of course—"

“N-No? Is there something wrong?”

Elsword ducks his head low, covering his face with one hand and muttering something to himself with shaking shoulders. Chung can assume pretty quickly he must be feeling embarrassed for jumping to conclusions like that. Though he did wish he could provide Elsword with a real answer, the thought of protecting versus the thought of adventuring somehow stirs wars in his stomach. As if two tides of the same ocean were racing towards each other and smashing against each other again and again, he can only provide such a response.

“I wanted to tell you something else is all.” Elsword murmurs, grabbing the scroll discarded on the side of the bed and nudging Chung to move back. Suddenly, they are half a mattress’s space apart from each other, and he rolls out the scroll to reveal the time-worn map of a town Chung found unfamiliar. It was old, wrinkled with fold creases and poked holes where pins once stabbed themselves deep into, but there were also fresh markings on the papyrus. To be specific, a red circle over what appeared to be some sort of pathway inside the town? Perhaps a sewer, with that magnified image of a sewer entrance?

Elsword clears his throat, catches Chung’s attention.

“This is Elder,” Elsword says, gesturing with his hand to the entirety of the map.

Chung tries to rack his head. Where was Elder again? He had studied in Pluone, so it wasn’t like they focused that heavily on their sister continent. Elder was right next to Ruben if he recalls properly; in fact, it was the town—

“It’s the nearest town to Ruben,” Elsword explains with a quirk of an amused lip. Shy, Chung abashedly laughs and awkwardly scrapes through his hair.

“I haven’t formally studied in five years, Els.”

“I know. Your face went really empty.”

Elsword’s words casually dodge the fact that he, too, hasn’t really done some classroom education in a long time either. Chung decides not to poke at him for it.

“Anyway,” Elsword continues, and points at the circled area, “I’m going back to Rurensia to visit Ruben, but first I’m going to investigate this area.”

Chung frowns and taps his foot on the carpeted floor, confused, “Elder’s sewer system?”

Elsword’s face is gravely resolved. Brows pushed downwards and lips set in a flat line, his free hand balls into a fist on the mattress.

“I told you about the first big bad guy we fought, Wally, didn’t I?” Elsword brushes his bangs back, but they only fall back in place just a little tangled up, eyeing the map.

Chung recalls Elsword had mentioned some story with a person like that one night, how they had chased the old man Wally down all the way to Bethma before they were attacked by Raven’s mercenary ship and ultimately left the fate of Wally unknown.

It was easy to assume what really happened in the devastating crash that left him, Aisha, and Rena badly injured.

“I do.” He affirms.

Elsword’s finger glides over the aged paper, index lingering on that bright red circle drawn over the sewers. He brings his knee up to his chest, resting his chin on top of it, “I heard something I can’t leave alone.”

The tapping of Chung’s foot comes to cease. The weight the words carry suddenly makes the weight of the room so much heavier, almost ominous. "Els, what’s happened?”

Elsword at least spares a little bit of his heart by making it quick. "Apparently, there’s a laboratory under Elder that Wally used while he was the town’s lord for Nasod experimentation. I’m going to go to Rurensia and check it out.”

When? How? With who? Why?

The declaration takes Chung back and has him blinking a few times to let it sink in. There were still underlying problems that had to be fought? As in, physically fought? He thought with the war over, that would be done with for at least a month or two, maybe even three! Was Elsword relapsing into his endless stubbornness to his unnecessary end as some stupid martyr demise?

He's got to be smarter than this. “Are you _serious,_ Els?” Chung does his best not to show any visible signs of being on the edge of fuming. He should try to understand. Hearing Elsword out came first. Yet! He knows the agenda. He’s _seen_  the agenda this Knight Emperor likes to run with, where he finds a problem bigger than himself and tries to solve everyone’s problems on his own, _especially_ the El-forbid incident in Elysion where he nearly fed his own _body_ to a giant piece of rock! Was this still happening even after they had repeatedly stopped him from sacrificing himself for the team?

His emotions take before his earlier logic and before he knows it, can think twice on it, Chung immediately shoots out, “You’re not going to go alone, are you?”

Elsword stares, dumbfounded at his reaction like a Hameling caught on withered waters and the response doesn’t come out.

“What—“ He fumbles with his words to a point of incoherence, twiddles with his fingers, bows his head low enough to touch the mattress— or rather, paper.

“I—I won’t! Everyone’s told me off enough for me to get it.”

Good. Logic won over, thank El! The rising energy dies out, leaving Chung feeling just the faintest bit relieved. Elsword at least wasn’t the type to lie about these things. He had always been truthful, even if he did sudden actions that everyone was not aware of at times.

“Actually, I’m telling you this because…”

Elsword lifts his head up from the paper, leans across with upper torso hovering above the map, and comes in close to the guardian with honest and earnest eyes that are just too _difficult_ to pull away from. Chung curses himself repeatedly, curses the world, curses Elsword’s pretty eyes all at the same time.

“I was hoping you’d consider coming with me.”

Chung is silent.

“To make sure I don’t do anything stupid, but also not complain all the time like Aisha does,” he adds quickly, cracks open a small jest towards the purple-haired magician at the same time in an attempt to bring up his own mood.

Still, Chung remains quiet, locked and sealed into the way he had been sitting the entire time.

"And, well..."

It's a shame he's too busy trying to make sure he was comprehending that there was an alternative option from the ones set out before him to witness the leader's harshly flaming red face, with eyes shifting from Chung to his now eye-catching shoes and a twitching hand that tries to crawl towards a paler one.

"I thought maybe we could... go on a casual adventure after. It- it’s a vast world, after all? I think Aisha said that.”

 

* * *

 

"Your friend must've told you something big, is that right?"

"Yes."

Helputt stops by to visit on the day of departure from the port. He watches his son packing so many of the clothes he had initially brought home, occasionally tossing over onto a chair the threads from when he was younger should they be found. He doesn't know what transpired between the two that day, and he chose not to know; there were some things that mayhaps needed to be dealt with in privacy as adults. And whatever happened after he left, it's got his son set on the path ahead of him.

"Father," Chung addresses him with his back still turned, placing another pair of clothes and an armor cloth into the bag, "I'm going to Rurensia with Elsword. We're going to investigate something that might be going on."

"He's not becoming a Velder knight after all," Helputt's low laugh cracks a smile on Chung's face. "This is the path you have chosen, then."

"Yes." Chung shuts the luggage bag and zips it up tight, standing up with the luggage in his hand, turning around with cannon grasped for by the other. He's returned to the armor worn onto the battlefield, hair pulled up into the usual ponytail style, and his eyes are wondrously bright. Pristine, freshly polished white is the ethereal coloration in the basking morning light, streaming in from the window behind him, the cerulean colors of Hamel ever so strong. Helputt feels almost enlightened, like the day of seeing a son off were there for the first time at last, despite their forced separation for so long when Chung was so little. The memories from the demon realm show him the dirt-ridden armor that had always prevailed on his guardian son, and how the darkness had always made him appear the one shimmering blotch of light in a realm gone astray.

This was a sight he, as a father, could truly be proud of.

Chung hefts his cannon and slings it behind him. He smiles at his father, bright and, though no longer innocent from the haunting days of war, strong. Hopeful. The hopeful light he could recognize in any new traveler somehow resides in his son despite his five years of exploration to find Helputt himself.

When he heads for the door, Helputt opens it for him and sees them both out. The luggage wheels roll, constantly humming with their pace.

“Chung,” Helputt says.

He looks over at his father, “What is it?”

Reaching over, calloused hand lands square on the top of Chung’s head, ruffling it gently and delicately.

“…Stay in touch.”

His smile becomes radiant, as it is as bright as his mother’s.

“I will,” he responds, just as softly as the touch of his personal, own guardian.

And suddenly, the next time he blinks, the smell of the sea hits Helputt harder than the bygone days. The scent he had taken for granted, as something yes, beautiful, but always there, suddenly feels open-armed for him. A figure clad in hero’s red stands atop the ship, looking over the harbor with a sword sheathed yet hand resting atop its handle. Chung approaches the ramp that leads to the front deck, waving his hand.

Over nearby is what appears to be the rest of Chung’s teammates— no, his friends.

They all seem to be saying their own farewells, though everyone knew they would see each other again. The purple-haired woman who made that fantastic speech had her arms crossed and cheeks puffed out, the elf with hands behind her back and simply watching, that odd demon queen waving her hands to and fro in some strange, strange hyperactive manner.

It’s an oddly enticing feeling, to feel the stage shift underneath his feet to his own son. It felt only so little ago where many of Hamel’s lives and eyes were on him.

“Safe journey,” he breathes, and that is all he needs to speak.

Chung arrives at the harbor’s front with one last step, just a large one away from boarding. Elsword waits for him at the front deck entrance, dressed up in the armor of a leader once more, his greaves back on his arms and his cape freshly cleaned, boots well-furbished.

But maybe it was better to phrase it as a former leader for Elsword. His features, previously burdened with the responsibilities of the warhead, were still light. Determined, as Elsword had always been from the day they first met, but there was a refreshing light in the red veil that Chung couldn’t possibly bring himself to ignore. To consider two of the revered El Search Party would drop down from their pedestals to mere common adventurers? Perhaps Elsword would still keep his title of Knight of Elrios throughout the lands; perhaps Chung would still be remembered as the White Wolf.

But today, and the days they were going to spend together onboard the journey in the future, they were just two travelers looking to help people and have some fun while they were at it.

“You ready?” Elsword grins the smile of a teenager eager and thirsting for the stories ahead, hand outstretched.

And to Chung, that was just fine with him.

Grabbing his hand, Chung hauls himself from port to ship, grinning ear to ear.

“It's a vast world, after all!"

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to talk Elschung, oh dear gosh please hit me up! My twitter is @yenfian and my tumblr is yenfia! Thank you very much for reading!!!!
> 
> what elboy would do if chung said no? elboy would practically become the giant shrug emoji he didnt plan that far


End file.
